August 31, 2004

Frances now at CAT 4, Jacksonville/Brunswick under the gun for Sunday landfall

Hurricane Frances has sustained winds of 140 MPH right now, and is still moving westward at 15 MPH. Hurricane Warnings and Watches are up for the Eastern and Central Bahamas as Frances is expected to hand a gradual right turn that will take up through the Bahamas and ultimately to strike the coast of the US.

The National Hurricane Center currently is projecting a strike solution that has Frances coming ashore as a CAT 4 or 5 storm near Jacksonville on Sunday.

More than one of the forecast models include the storm as not only striking the Northern part of Florida, but coming inland enough to give us grief even here in Atlanta.

Remembering what happened in 1995 when Hurricane Opal came in from the Gulf enough to cause grief here, I figure I need to get to the store soon. When Opal came in, our power ended up out for two days.

Once Hurricane Warnings go up for Florida, HurricaneCity will start streaming live non-stop coverage, plus there will be television and radio stations that will stream non-stop coverage.

Although the NHS is calling for a Jacksonville landfall, everyone along the Eastern Seaboard needs to watch this thing. Not only that, but the Gulf Coast is not out of the woods yet. If Frances does not turn, it'll plow through the Florida Straits like a hot knife through butter and sail on into the Gulf, which brings a completely new set of problems.